The pertussis outbreak of 2012 has leveled off on the North Olympic Peninsula, with no new cases reported this week in Clallam or Jefferson counties, health officials said.
Pertussis, known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease that leads to severe coughing and tends to target children.
Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson County, said Jefferson County still had 23 cases, and Clallam County had five, as was reported in early March.
Health officials said this year’s pertussis outbreak has reached “epidemic levels” in Jefferson and five other counties: Cowlitz, Kittitas, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom.
Locke said the medical community has done a good job of isolating the whooping cough sufferers and vaccinating those around them.
“That’s our goal: to find the cases and treat them so they’re no longer infectious,” Locke said.
“If you do that, you can stop outbreaks.”
Locke said pertussis is considered an epidemic in Jefferson County because there was a “chain reaction” in its spread.
Of the 23 cases there, 17 were lab-confirmed and six were suspected pertussis.
Clallam County’s five cases were lab-confirmed.
According to the state Department of Health, there were 549 cases of pertussis recorded in the state from Jan. 1 through Saturday.
The outbreak is likely to exceed the number of about 950 cases last year and the previous record of about 1,020 in 2005, Michele Roberts, immunization program health communication manager, told The Associated Press.
Locke has described pertussis outbreaks as cyclical, with 2012 being on the “crest” of the latest wave.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said pertussis is common in the United States, with epidemics every three to five years.
Pertussis can be fatal in very rare cases.
Although there have been no pertussis deaths this year in Washington, two babies died in 2011 and two babies in 2010.
Health official urge parents to have their children vaccinated for whooping cough.
According to the Health Department, 81.9 percent of this year’s confirmed cases have affected people 18 or younger.
Meanwhile, a rise in influenza cases prompted Locke and his counterpart from Kitsap County to declare the start of flu season.
The declaration triggers area hospitals to take extra precautions against the spread of the flu, such as requiring health care workers to wear masks when in contact with patients.
“It’s a late one, and it’s a very mild one so far,” Locke said.
Locke said it is likely the flu season will last for two to four weeks before it falls below the threshold of an influenza season.
“It’s all unpredictable,” he added.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
